Mark Barrett, 2:22 p.m. EST February 16, 2016

HENDERSONVILLE – State Senate candidates Lisa Baldwin and Chuck Edwards differed on immigration issues and offered conditional support for converting railroad tracks leading to Brevard to a walking and biking trail during a campaign forum Tuesday.

About 60 people also heard from state House candidates Cody Henson and Coty Ferguson at the event put on by the Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce.

Baldwin elicited an angry response when she accused Edwards of sending a letter to then-U.S. House leaders Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner in 2013 "to push for what became the Obama amnesty."

"I would enforce immigration laws on the books," she said.

Edwards called the accusation "totally outrageous." He said he had sent the letter as chairman of the Henderson chamber and that he had not supported amnesty.

Local farmers were having trouble finding enough people to work and saw that other states were beginning to pass laws addressing immigration, so farmers asked for the chamber's help, Edwards said.

The chamber in turn asked Boehner and Pelosi to "get off of their butts and fix immigration once and for all and give the farmers a way to legally and reliably tend to their crops. There were crops rotting in fields in other states. We never asked for illegal amnesty," Edwards said.

Baldwin is a Fairview resident who served on the Buncombe County Board of Education. Edwards is a Henderson County businessman who owns seven McDonald's restaurants in the area. The other Republican candidate, Dennis Justice, did not attend.

The three are competing in the Republican primary for the 48th Senate District seat now held by Henderson County Republcian Tom Apodaca, who is retiring. The district comprises Henderson and Transylvania counties and much of southern Buncombe County.

Henson and Ferguson are running in the GOP primary for House District 113, which includes Transylvania and Polk counties and southern Henderson County. Incumbent Rep. Chris Whitmire is not running again.

Differences between Baldwin and Edwards on a proposal to establish the Ecusta Trail on railroad tracks between Hendersonville and Brevard were more subtle.

Edwards said he would prefer that an industry locate on the line to employ hundreds of people, but the tracks haven't been used for 15 years and, "It’s beginning to look like using the line for rail service is an unviable option.

"The rails are rusting. The weeds are growing up. The trestles are falling apart," and the next best use for the tracks would be for a trail that would boost the local economy, he said.

Baldwin was more ambivalent, saying she is concerned about property rights and "unintended consequences."

" I believe it’s premature right now to assign a state role. This is a local decision. Do the costs outweigh the benefits?" she said. But she added, " I would not oppose this project" and there might be state grants available to help with track conversion.

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/n...rail/80451656/